Witnesses said the time bomb was stashed in a black shopping bag hanging from the shutter of Hanif Pharmacy in Harinal Bazar in Gazipur municipality, 35 kilometres north of the capital, still reeling from a grenade attack on an Awami League rally that killed 19 people.

"The bomb was covered in vegetables in the bag," 62-year-old Harez Ali Sheikh, an injured BNP leader, told reporters.

Four people were drinking tea at a stall in front of the drugstore of Dr Solaiman Ali and some others were walking by the area at 7:15pm, when the explosion tore through the neighbourhood.

"A boom rocked the area and I found myself bleeding," said Mizanur Rahman, former president of the municipality unit of Jubo Dal, ruling BNP's youth front.

SK Zabiullah, 55, a BNP activist, Ruhul Amin, 30, a rickshawpuller, Mohammad Hanif, 45, and Lal Mia, 65, were also injured.

The police retrieved the timer of the bomb, splinters and damaged shutter of the drugstore.

BOMB RECOVERY
A security guard of Gazipur Press Club found a container covered in red tape under the chair of the professional organisation's General Secretary Iqbal Ahmed Sarker at about 10:30am. The police defused the bomb to the relief of newspersons and other residents of Gazipur.

"It was a cocktail," Gazipur Superintendent of Police (SP) Atiqul Islam told The Daily Star without giving leads to the blast and recovery of the bomb.

Sub-Inspector Selina Akhter of Gazipur Police Station said no-one was arrested until 7:00pm.